SGER: Creating the Foundations of Function Based Biomimetic Concept Generation

自然界为工程设计提供了无数的类比和灵感案例。从简单的情况，如挂钩和插销附件到铰接式机翼飞行器，大自然提供了许多想法的来源。虽然生物系统提供了丰富的优雅和巧妙的方法来解决问题，但仍有一些挑战阻碍了设计师在设计的(使用合成材料和能量)世界上充分利用生物世界的洞察力。一个根本的问题是，成为一名称职的工程设计师所需的努力和时间对变得足够了解生物系统以有效执行仿生设计(当然，反之亦然)造成了巨大的障碍。在这一小笔探索性研究拨款中，我们描述了我们打算如何通过创建使原型仿生设计库成为可能的方法和知识来为解决知识需求问题奠定基础。设计知识将根据仿生系统解决的功能进行存储。第一个贡献是创建了一个部分同义词词典，其中将包含功能基础术语的生物学内涵词，从而能够搜索工程功能的仿生解决方案。第二个是发现直接解决工程功能的生物现象。第三是创造类似于(通过使用类似的策略)但不在物理上模拟生物现象的工程解决方案。如果成功，这项研究将通过推广功能建模和仿生设计的基本方法，为工程设计做出基础性贡献。主要贡献将包括将生物系统表示为特定工程功能的解决方案，从功能角度直接知识发现生物系统和工程系统之间的异同，以及创建工程系统，这些系统实施生物同行的策略或原理，而不复制物理生物实体。广泛影响虽然这项提议的主要目标是产生导致更全面的研究提议的结果，但这里提出的工作将产生直接和广泛的影响。如果成功，这项探索性工作将向你展示开发一种语言和同义词词典的可行性，使工程和生物界能够更好地合作、创造和发现。此外，这项研究的结果将为创建一个更大的基于功能的仿生设计库提供基础，通过网络访问，将对工程设计产生广泛的影响。

The natural world provides numerous cases for analogy and inspiration in engineering design. From simple cases such as hook and latch attachments to articulated-wing flying vehicles, nature provides many sources for ideas. Though biological systems provide a wealth of elegant and ingenious approaches to problem solving, there are challenges that prevent designers from leveraging the full insight of the biological world on the designed (with synthetic materials and energies) world. A fundamental problem is that the effort and time required to become a competent engineering designer creates significant obstacles to becoming sufficiently knowledgeable about biological systems to effectively execute biomimetic design (and of course, the converse could be said).In this Small Grant for Exploratory Research, we describe how we intend to lay the groundwork to solve the knowledge requirement problem through the creation of methods and knowledge that will enable a prototype biomimetic design repository. The design knowledge will be stored based on the function the biomimetic system solves. The first contribution is the creation of a partial thesaurus that will contain biologically connotative words for Functional Basis terms, thus enabling the search for biomimetic solutions to engineering functions. The second is the discovery of biological phenomena that directly solve engineering functions. The third is the creation of engineering solutions that are analogous to (by using similar strategies), but do not physically mimic biological phenomena. Intellectual Merit If successful, this proposed research would make fundamental contributions to engineering design through the extension of the basic methods of functional modeling and biomimetic design. Key contributions will include representing biological systems as solutions to specific engineering functions, direct knowledge discovery of the similarities and differences between biological and engineered systems as viewed from a functional perspective and the creation of engineered systems that implement strategies or principles of their biological counterparts without reproducing physical biological entities.Broader Impact Though the primary goal of this proposal is to produce results leading to a more comprehensive research proposal, the work proposed here will have immediate and broad impact. If successful, this exploratory work will the demonstrate u the feasibility of developing a language and thesaurus that enable the engineering and biology communities to better collaborate, create and discover. Additionally, the results of this research will provide the groundwork to create a larger function-based biomimetic design repository that, through web access, will have a broad impact on engineering design.